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Want to determine the best small business to start? The best way is to stop thinking and start doing.
Want to start your own business, but are struggling to come up with the perfect idea? Unfortunately, you never will. At least not at first.
If you’re a first-time entrepreneur, your goal should be to start a business, not the business: not the one guaranteed to succeed, to thrive, and to make all your startup dreams come true.
I’m a great example. When I was trying to find an idea for a business I could start on the side — because you should almost always keep your full-time job while you’re starting your own business — I decided I should provide book design services for writers who wanted to self-publish. That didn’t fly… but it did lead to me ghostwriting books for other people.
As I was building that business, I realized I had decent photography equipment sitting idle and decided I should offer photography services for lawyers. I can’t tell you why I thought that was a good idea… but it did lead to photographing weddings for a number of years until my writing business was successful enough that I could let that venture go.
That’s the thing about starting a business, or starting any new pursuit. Instead of trying to start the business — the business that will succeed, and make you wealthy (because the only way to get really, really rich is to start your own business) — you just need to start a business. A business you can learn from. A business you can use as a foundation for gaining experience, skills, and connections.
A business that might succeed beyond your wildest dreams… or might not, since failure is almost always part of the process. (Every successful person has failed, numerous times. Most of them have failed many more times than the rest of us; that’s why they’re so successful now.)
Think in terms of starting a business, and you’ll feel less pressure. Less need to create the perfect plan. Less need to consider every possible outcome. Less need to sit and think, and more freedom to do.
Instead of trying to find the perfect idea, pick one sounds good to you, determine the first steps… and get started so you can learn by doing, not just by thinking. Get going so you can start to evaluate and adapt. Get started, trusting that you will figure out how to react and how to respond to roadblocks and challenges, and that you will grow wiser for those experiences. Get started so you grow more skilled, more experienced, and more connected.
Think about starting the business — think about starting the anything — and you’ll likely stay stuck in an endless loop of thinking, planning, and evaluating because your plan will never seem perfect, and the timing will never seem right.
Think about starting a business, though,, and it’s easy to quickly shift from thinking to doing.
Who knows? A business you start might just turn out to be the business.
More likely, it will set you on the path to discover the idea for the business, and to have developed the skills to seize that opportunity.
Regardless of the outcome, neither will happen until you stop thinking and start doing.
This post originally appeared at inc.com.
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